HOMEBREW Digest #1708 Tue 18 April 1995
Digest #1707
Digest #1709
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Will my beer be OK? (HBD #1703) (G. Garnett)
1-800 catalog numbers (James A Lindberg)
Dry Hopping (Norman Pyle)
testing pH by titration? (Will Self)
(aaron.banerjee)
Cure for Drunkenes (aaron.banerjee)
Fields Brewing Company! (Jeff Wade)
Is it legal in Missouri yet? (Phil Miller)
Re: Herb beers/mead and NA beer ("Lee C. Bussy")
Re: Contest results ("Lee C. Bussy")
Malting Barley (Jason Axley)
Minikeg carbonation ("Jeffrey W. Van Deusen")
Who's who on HBD? (David Draper)
Subject: Felinfoel (MClarke950)
Plastic tubing/Heating enzymes/Tummy stout (Philip Gravel)
I took the list all winter and really enjoyed it. My summer schedual (Dean S Sundwark)
TOO bitter! (Charles E. Deaton)
buying beelegs (Carl Etnier)
Mash Questions (MMMST40)
Kegging commercial beer question (David Divalerio)
RIMS cleaning (Dion Hollenbeck)
Keg-bung preparation (DABLUES)
ftp.stanford? (Bob Sinnema)
Drinking Age in England (Jeff Hewit)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 11:24:53 -0400
From: ggarnett at qrc.com (G. Garnett)
Subject: Re: Will my beer be OK? (HBD #1703)
My apologies if this is seems like (yet another) "Me too!" message,
but Mike Demers has a very good point here, and one that I don't
think is emphasized enough in the various beginners' books on
homebrewing (particularly Papazian's book).
mdemers at ccmailpc.ctron.com wrote:
> My suggestion to one and all is: TASTE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beer is food, folks, it's edible from the beginning of the process and
it's a Good Idea to taste and smell everything - the ingredients, the
sweet wort, the green beer (and, of course) the final product.
Crunch a barleycorn between your teeth and taste the grain. Put your
nose in a bag of hops and smell them. If you're an extract brewer,
scoop a bit of the syrup from the lid of the can with your finger, and
taste that. Taste your wort; personally, I drink at least a little
bit of every hydrometer sample I take - and generally get at least as
much useful information from the taste as I get from reading the number
on the side of the hydrometer.
With a bit of experience, you'll be able to taste the changes your beer
goes through during fermentation and conditioning. Have a little
patience and faith, too - beer takes time, and even if it tastes bad
now, give it a few weeks.
Case in point: I'm an extract brewer, and recently I had a batch of
amber ale where everything seemed to go wrong: I somehow grabbed the
wrong (hopped instead of unhopped) can of extract at the brew store,
and had to rethink my hop schedule while waiting for the wort to boil.
Hop pellet and cold break material clogged up my strainer while I was
pouring the partially-chilled wort into my fermentor. While I was
trying to deal with that, I dropped the strainer into the (nearly full)
fermenter. While I'd sanitized the thing, that didn't include the
handle, and I was sure that the extra iron wouldn't do me or my beer
much good.
So I gritted my teeth, rolled up my sleeve, scrubbed my arm, and
fished the thing out of there. Now all that junk was in the fermenter
anyway, so I grabbed a couple of packets of dry yeast, rehydrated, and
pitched them to get the ferment started fast, before the nasties could
get a strong hold on the beer. I tasted my hydrometer sample (right
before pitching the yeast) and was a bit concerned that I'd overdone
the bittering, as well as being concerned about the possibility of an
infection.
Fermentation went well (and quickly), and I could tell from the taste
(as well as the hydrometer readings) that the yeast was doing its stuff.
I was still a bit concerned, though: the bitterness was awfully harsh,
and seemed to be getting worse as the ferment proceeded. By bottling
time, the beer was just this side of drinkable, but I went ahead and
bottled it anyway.
After a week, the beer was pretty well carbonated, but the bitterness
was still as bad as it was when I'd bottled. Other than that (which
was pretty bad), there didn't seem to be any sign of infection, so I
kept tasting it once or twice a week. Suddenly (it seemed nearly
overnight, but was probably over the course of about a week) about a
month after bottling, the beer got better! The bitterness mellowed,
and while it'll probably never win any awards, the result is quite
drinkable and is dissapearing from the cellar at a respectable rate.
Don't give up, and keep tasting your brew!
Guy Garnett, Rockville MD ggarnett at qrc.com
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hakuna Matata and have a homebrew!
Guy Garnett
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ggarnett at qrc.com
Standard disclaimers apply
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 11:00:17 CDT
From: jal at ted.cray.com (James A Lindberg)
Subject: 1-800 catalog numbers
1-800 AND INTERNET BREW NUMBERS FOR HOMEBREW CATALOGS
Beverage People CA 800-544-1867
Big Basin Brewing CA 800-509-2739
Brewers Resource CA 800-827-3983
Brimhall Brew Barn CA 800-414-2739
Culver City Home Brewing CA 800-382-7394 cchbs at ix.netcom.com
Fun Fermentations CA 800-950-9463
Great Fermentations CA 800-542-2520
GFSR CA 800-544-1867
HopTech CA 800-379-4677
South Bay Homebrew Supply CA 800-608-2739 74557.1102 at compuserve.com
Williams Brewing CA 800-759-6025
Yeasty Brew Unlimited CA 800-928-2739
Highlander CO 800-388-3923
Rocky Mountain HOMEBREW CO sabbe at zymurgy.stortek.com
Maltose Express CT 800-625-8673
Barley & Hops Trading FL 800-810-4677
Best Brew FL 800-780-2739
Hearts Homebrew Supply FL 800-392-8322
Sebastion Brewers Sply FL 800-780-7837
Brew Your Own Beverages GA 800-477-2962
Brewtopia GA 800-540-6258
The Whistle Pig GA 800-947-5744
S.P.S. Beer Stuff IA spsbeer at netins.net
http://www.netins.net/showcase/spsbeer
The Brewer's Coop IL 800-451-6348
Alternative Garden Supply IL 800-444-2837
Heartland Hydr & HB IL 800-354-4769
Home Brewing Emporium IL 800-455-2739 73427.1241 at compuserve.com
Beer & Wine Hobby MA 800-523-5423
The Modern Brewer MA 800-736-3253
Stella Brew MA 800-248-6823
The Vineyard MA 800-626-2371
Brew Masters MD 800-466-9557
Brew N Kettle MD 800-809-3003
Gus's Discount Warehouse MI 800-475-9688
The Yeast Culture Kit Co MI 800-742-2110
Braukunst Homebrewers Sys MN 800-972-2728 73507.2256 at cis.com
Brew and Grow MN 800-230-8191
Pine Cheese Mart MN 800-596-2739
James Page Brewery MN 800-347-4042
Northern Brewer MN 800-681-2739 http://www.winternet.com/~nbrewer/
Semplex MN 800-488-5444 jiminmpls at aol.com
Wind River Brewing MN 800-266-4677
The Home Brewery MO 800-321-2739
Alternative Beverage NC 800-365-2739
BrewBetter Supply NC Brewbetter at aol.com
Brewco NC baughmankr at conrad.appstate.edu
Olde Fangled Fermment. NH 800-379-6258
Stout Billy's NH 800-392-4792
The Brewmeister NJ 800-322-3020
Red Bank Brewing Supply NJ 800-779-7507
Coyote Home Brewing Suply NM 800-779-2739
Mr. Radz Homebrew Supply NV 800-465-4723 gustav at enet.net
Brew By You NY 800-986-2739
Brewers Den NY 800-449-2739
The Brewery NY 800-762-2560
East Coast Brewing Supply NY http://virtumall.com/EastCoastBrewing/ECBMain.html
Great Lakes Brew Supply NY 800-859-4527
Hennessey Homebrew NY 800-462-7397
The Hoppy Troll NY 800-735-2739
KEDCO NY 800-654-9988
New York Homebrew NY 800-966-2739
US Brewing Supply NY 800-383-9303
The Grape & Granary OH 800-695-9870
Brew Ha Ha PA 800-243-2620
Beer Unlimited PA 800-515-0666
Bet-Mar SC 800-822-7713
U-Brew SC 800-845-4441
BrewHaus TN 800-638-2437
DeFalco's TX 800-216-2739
Homebrew Sup. of Dallas TX 800-270-5922
St. Patrick's of Texas TX stpats at wixer.bga.com
Scientific Service TX 800-894-9507
Beer Boy Enterprises VA 800-484-7401 (enter 5786 after beep)
The Brewer's Club VA 800-827-3948
HomeBrew International VA 800-447-4883
Something's Brewing VA tayers at aol.com
The Cellar WA 800-342-1871
Evergreen Brewing Sup. WA 800-789-2739
The Homebrew Store WA 800-827-2739
Jim's Homebrew WA 800-326-7769
Liberty Malt Supply WA 800-990-6258
Belle City WI 800-236-6258
Market Basket WI 800-824-5562
North Brewing Supply WI 800-483-7238
The Brew Place WI 800-847-6721
The Malt Shop WI 800-235-0026
The Brewing Station WV 800-550-0350
BrewCrafters 800-468-9678 catalog at brewcrafters.com
BrewShack 800-646-2739
H.B. Discount Warehouse 800-491-6615 (just malt extract)
U.S. Brewing Supply 800-728-2337
Your Keg Company 800-968-0534
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 12:47:14 MDT
From: Norman Pyle <npyle at hp7013.ecae.StorTek.COM>
Subject: Dry Hopping
David Shea wrote about dry-hopping, saying that in a couple of cases he found
the hop flavor too sweet and citrus-like. Then:
>for the proper SG reading. For the Ballard bitter I used 3/4 ounce
>Willamette hops(finishing) and 3/4 ounce Willamette to dry hop (for a
>1.048 SG beer). For the Redhook (1.054), I used one ounce of Tettnanger
>(finishing) and an ounce Tettnanger to dry hop. My question is this:
>which of these amounts should I reduce, the finishing hops or the dry
I would reduce the dry hops and move those amounts into the kettle. Maybe
to the point of all finishing and no dry hopping. You'll find less aroma,
but it may also come closer to the beer you're trying to clone. I don't
know about Redhook but I believe only a small percentage of micros are dry
hopped.
>hops. I know dryhopping isn't supposed to add flavor, but the change in
>taste was so dramatic when I dryhopped, I am not sure if this is true.
Not supposed to add flavor? Do you mean "not supposed to add bitterness"? I
don't much distinguish between aroma and flavor, as the two are so tightly
coupled, but in my mind, dry hopping adds flavor and aroma, in a big way. So
much so that they can completely overdrive the beer so that all other aspects
are lost or greatly hidden. I feel that finish hopping gives a much more
refined aroma vs. dry hopping. OTOH, I do believe dry hopping has its place
- I'm just not dry hopping my stouts and Wits anymore! :^/.
In many cases, I've taken to large doses of finishing hops (and the use of a
hop back) in place of dry hops. According to Glenn Tinseth, the hop
compounds that end up in the beer are quite different when comparing finish
hopping to dry hopping. There is more than one reason for this. Of course,
the boiling temperatures cause some reactions to take place that wouldn't
happen in cold wort or beer. Also, and I think this is important, dry
hopping is usually done post-ferment, or at least post-primary-ferment. Many
compounds are driven off during the active stages of fermentation. I have
discussed with Glenn a method to create a hop tea in a sealed vessel (maybe
a pressure cooker), to prevent aromatics from escaping. A very short boil
and quick chill and then add to the _secondary_. I want to see if I can
increase dramatically the effects of finish hopping without what I consider
the drawbacks of dry hopping. Comments?
Cheers,
Norm
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 16:29:28 -0600
From: wself at viking.emcmt.edu (Will Self)
Subject: testing pH by titration?
I would like to know of people's experience testing pH with a titration kit.
The ones I have seen are for winemakers and express the acidity in terms
of percent acid (no doubt a neanderthal way of measuring). Does anyone
know how to convert from this percent acid to pH? Or, are there kits that
give instructions written specifically in terms of pH? Do these kits work
better than the papers?
Will Self
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 21:07:52
From: aaron.banerjee at his.com
Subject:
By the way, the Titantic sinks tonight. (April 14-15, 1912)
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 21:06:35
From: aaron.banerjee at his.com
Subject: Cure for Drunkenes
LONG MESSAGE ALERT
I'm enclosing the text version of the cure for drunkeness. I've mailed the
image of the patent to several people, but there has been some problem getting
it to properly decode. If you'd like the image (.PCX) drop me a line at:
aaron.banerjee at his.com
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEORGE M. HAY, OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND HARVEY T.
LITCHFIELD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
Letters Patent No. 85,659, dated January 5, 1869
-------------------
IMPROVED MEDICAL COMPOUND
-------------------
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, George M. Hay, of Americus, in the county of
Sumter, and state of Georgia, have invented a new and improved Antidote
for Drunkeness; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,
clear, and exact description of the same.
This invention consists in a combination of simple, common, and
innocuous vegetable and animal substances, in the proportions described,
whereby an effectual antidote to drunkenness is obtained, the use of
which will not produce any injurious effects upon the system.
The compound which I employ for the purpose specified, consists
of the several ingredients, and in the respective proportions, as herein
set forth, to wit:
Calamus-root, one-half ounce; tincture gum-guiacum, one and
one-half ounce; beef-gall, or its equivalent, one-half pint; eel-skin,
one-half pint; sweet milk, one-fourth pint; decoction of cherry-tree
bark, one-fourth pint; decoction of poke-root, one-fourth pint; cows'
urine, one-half pint.
These ingredients, having been thoroughly mixed, are added to one
gallon of alcohol or pure spirits.
The medicine, thus compunded, is to be taken, before meals, three
times a day; at first, in doses of two or three tablespoonfuls;
afterwards, a single tablespoonful will suffice.
The eel-skin, codfish, and poke-root are not absolutely necessary
to the medicine, but experience has proved that they increase its
effectiveness, if used in the proportions set forth.
It is not necessary, of course, that the precise proportions of
the several ingredients, as above given, should always be rigidly
adhered to. They may be slightly varied, without sensibly affecting the
general properties of the compound.
This medicine has been thoroughly tested in some of the most
difficult cases of long-standing, habitual drunkenness that could be
found anywhere in the country, and has resulted in an immediate and
perfect cure, its effect being to destroy the appetite for intoxicating
drinks, and to cause them to excite disgust and nausea whenever
presented.
What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is--
The compound above described, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
To the above specification of my improvement, I have set my hand,
this 7th day of December, 1868.
GEORGE M. HAY
Witnesses:
Solon O. Kemon,
Lysander Hill.
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 23:37:20 -0700
From: jeffpolo at eskimo.com (Jeff Wade)
Subject: Fields Brewing Company!
A visit to Eugene, Oregon could leave one wondering why so many
great beers available for such a small town? Someone, i.e....
tie-dyes, is creating a demand for it and I just had to check it
out!
I must be honest with you by telling you that I was a resident and
married in Eugene, Oregon only three years ago so you could say my
feelings may be a little partial.
Eugene is only one of many homes to Oregon's local Mcmenimins.
Another favorite is Steelhead Brewery which is rumored, not
confirmed by me, to have expanded it's brewery to Maui. But this
trip was not about either of Eugene's breweries that I have just
mentioned. This trip was destined for the newcomer known as Oregon
Fields Brewing Company. With the weather sunny, clear, and at
least 66f., I was in a most "quaffing" mood if you will. Enough of
the introduction, let's get down to business.
Krona Golden - Subtle, not much hop usage. Definitely the most
fitting beer for the occasion ... DRINKING!
Alexis Amber - Fruity nose, caramel tones. Not much complexity.
Medium amber in color.
Prisma Porter - This porter was true to the style. Very nicely done.
Maris-Otter Organic Hefeweizen - Quite fitting for the area. This
hefeweizen is
made with 11% rye which adds nice compliment to it. Unfiltered
and was served with a lemon wedge, which I promptly removed.
Duck Tail IPA - Great beer for the hop heads! This IPA was true to
the style and displayed its' hop usage proudly.
Noel Oatmeal Stout - Labeled to be carbonated with "brew-gas"
had me curious to all end. It turned out to be a blend of nitrogen(20%),
and Co2. This was the tables favorite!
Opaque in color, beautifully soft, 6% oatmeal, and most filling indeed.
Demonstrated a true lace-work artist.
Oregon Fields Brewing Company, although quite new, will definitely
be a strong contender in the micro-brew market for Eugene, Oregon.
I purchased a fancy one-liter bottle w/flip top to go. The food is
outstanding, and the pub has a very bright quality about it. But
heck, I did say I was partial to Eugene!
Visit at: 13th and Oak, Eugene, Oregon. (503)341-6599.
Internet: Jeffpolo at eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~jeffpolo/jeff.htm
Eskimo North, Bellevue, WA
**************************
* OFFICIAL WWW PAGE OF *
* HONEY BEE HAMS. *
**************************
AT:
WWW-http://www.eskimo.com/~jeffpolo/
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 95 09:59:32 CDT
From: Phil Miller <C616063 at MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject: Is it legal in Missouri yet?
A couple of weeks ago somebody posted a note about a bill in front of the
MIssouri legislature that would make homebrewing legal in this state.
Talking to the local homebrew shop owners, I hear that the bill has passed
the house and went to the senate. Any news on the progress of this bill?
phil
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 09:58:38 +0000
From: "Lee C. Bussy" <leeb at southwind.net>
Subject: Re: Herb beers/mead and NA beer
Cheryl Ramsey asked about Herbs in Beer and Mead and NA Beer:
Cheryl, herbs in Mead make it a Metheglin, common herbs are Ginger,
Cloves, Cinnamon, Lemongrass and just about anything else that you
fancy. Herb beers are probably the most diverse class in
homebrewing. I've had everything from Allspice to Jabanero peppers
in beer and everything in between. Moderation is the key. Too many
Metheglins and spice beers go way overboard on them.
The herbs may be added to the boil, in the fermenter or as a tea at
bottling. All of these methods have advantages/disadvantages.
As far as NA beer goes, I think it was Jack Schmidling that did some
work on these. Perhaps he'll speak up with some of his findings.
People have heated the finished beer to ~170 deg F in an effort to
"boil off" the alcohol and have met with varying results. One method
that has intrigued me is the use of a vacuum to lower the boiling
point of the alcohol to room temperature. If there are any engineers
out there who can help me with the pressure/temperature curve I would
appreciate the help. In short, there doesn't seem to be a good,
consistent way for a homebrewer to accomplish the removal of alcohol
at home with standard equipment.
- --
-Lee Bussy | The 4 Basic Foodgroups.... |
leeb at southwind.net | Salt, Fat, Beer & Women! |
Wichita, Kansas | http://www.southwind.net/~leeb |
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 10:38:22 +0000
From: "Lee C. Bussy" <leeb at southwind.net>
Subject: Re: Contest results
Alan Folsom offers his views regarding competiton results:
> As someone just getting up the nerve to submit my brews to contests, I
> appreciate seeing results posted. Their value is greatly diminished,
> though, when the number of entries per category, or the actual scores,
> is not included.
Alan, some organizers do and some don't. As one who doesn't, let me
explain my feelings about this.
First of all, these are my views and not the official policy of the
AHA, HWBTA, BCJP or the Guild.
When you are competing for a ribbon, you are competing against the
other brewers there in your category. You can get a first place for
a score of 26 or a third place with a score of 41. It depends on the
competition. The score should not diminish the achievement and some
styles are inherenty harder to brew. I feel that the ribbon should
represent only the ranking in relation to the other beers on the
category. Besides, it's none of anyone elses business what your beer
scored.
The scores are an indication of the overall quality of the beer and
it's adherence to style guidelines. While in theory a 35 beer
should be a 35 beer no matter what contest it is in... in practice,
very hard classes such as American Pale Ale for instance with such an
incredible turnout sometimes get scored a little different. A judge
may taste an extremely good beer early on but not give it the 40 he
though it was worth because it is the first beer of 16 and he wanted
to leave himself room. No, this isn't a good way to do things but
nonetheless it happens. Or you could have a passable beer that would
have scored a 30 somewhere else in a catagory that has alot of bad
beers. The judges are so impressed with the one good beer they
finally get that they end up scoring it higher than they normally
would have.
These methods of scoring lead to nightmares for the
organizer. People will invariably ask why their beer scored X here
and X in that competition. Who knows.... I always tell the brewers
to look at the comments and go from there.
Another potential problem is someone seeing the results and seeing
the winner of a class being scored say a 35. He gets his results
back and his beer scored a 35 but no ribbon was awarded. What
happened? Secon round judging. His beer scored a 35 in first round
but did not go to the second round where the judging was harder. The
second round scores get posted because they are the ones that replect
the ribbon awards.
Those are some of my ideas... I have other reasons for not posting
scores. As far as posting the number of entries goes... well I don't
have a problem with that and I probably will next time.
On why some larger competition's results are not posted... well, I
can only guess that the organizer has no Internet access. Not
everyone dies you know ;).
- --
-Lee Bussy | The 4 Basic Foodgroups.... |
leeb at southwind.net | Salt, Fat, Beer & Women! |
Wichita, Kansas | http://www.southwind.net/~leeb |
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 11:50:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jason Axley <jaxley at seattleu.edu>
Subject: Malting Barley
One of my friends lives in Montana and has parents who grow barley on a
farm and sell to various places including Anheiser Busch. He said he
could hook me up with as much as I wanted, but the only problem is, how
would I go about malting the barley so that I could use it to homebrew?
The commercial malting process seems quite involved--is there any way to
get the job done by oneself? He doesn't know exactly what type of barley
it is. Any suggestions?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jason Axley Homebrewing:
e-mail: jaxley at seattleu.edu It's for what ales ya.
WWW: http://www.seattleu.edu/~jaxley/
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 14:52:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jeffrey W. Van Deusen" <VANDEUSEN001 at WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU>
Subject: Minikeg carbonation
I bottled and kegged my latest lager and it was stored in the basement at
50F for 1 month. The bottles showed little carbonation, so both minikegs
and all the bottles were moved up to room temp (about 67F). Five days later
the bottles are carbonated nicely, and the lager keeps a creamy head in the
glass until the beer is finished.
My question is this: Will the larger volume in the 5L kegs need longer at
room temp. to carbonate sufficiently, or can I store them back in the
basement (where the bottles have been returned to already)? TIA for any
advice.
Jeffrey Van Deusen
Danbury, CT
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 09:44:47 +1000 (EST)
From: David Draper <ddraper at laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au>
Subject: Who's who on HBD?
Dear Friends, we've seen some discussion lately about the makeup of the
readership and writership here on the digest. Some months back, a poster
asked something like "how do I know who you all are", and suggested
putting credentials or something, and this of course did not meet with
general approval. However, I got to thinking that it would be handy if
there were a file available to give very brief thumbnail bios of some of
the more regular contributors so that newcomers could get that kind of
info, and the recent series of posts has motivated me to put something
together.
However, I realize that doing such a thing poses many potential problems,
so I'm asking for some input on whether people think this is worth doing
or not. First, let me make it absolutely clear that I do not presume to
judge who is most knowledgeable, talented, etc. Second, what I have in
mind to produce is to be strictly factual, and not subjective. I have
spent some time going through the index files for the HBDs from 1994 and
1995 to remind myself of who posts knowledgeably, rather than use any kind
of automated post-counting approach. This is my only qualification for
doing this--I have read every issue of the digest for the past 3.5 years,
and many of those from before then, and have a pretty good idea who seems
to be the posters of high signal/noise content. Currently, my list
contains about 70 HBDers. The end product of this would be something that
is about 3-4 lines per person; it would consist of name, age, location,
non-brew occupation(s), how long a brewer, favorite styles to brew, and
area(s) of frequent HBD contribution. Hence, the file would have to
reside on the homebrew archive and on any web pages whose proprietors are
willing, rather than be posted here--it would be way too long. If the
attitude of respondents on this is favorable, my next step will be to post
this list of names so that those on it can send me the brief info I'd
need, and so that everyone could have a chance to tell me I've missed
someone etc.
So please, let me hear from you on this. Tell me if you think that such
a file would be good to have around; or whether its very existence would
be such a source of controversy that HBD content would plummet--this is
what my biggest fear is, and if it looks like that will be the outcome,
then this idea is going down the proverbial tube. Perhaps even the
next step, that of posting my list of names, would do this, and if so
it will all end right here. Please send me all commentary by private email.
Thanks a lot, Dave in Sydney
- --
"Cross your fingers and wait it out." ---A. J. deLange
******************************************************************************
David S. Draper, School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109
Sydney, Australia. email: david.draper at mq.edu.au fax: +61-2-850-8428
....I'm not from here, I just live here....
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 23:14:31 -0400
From: MClarke950 at aol.com
Subject: Subject: Felinfoel
> Whew. I haven't seen Felinfoel here in Seattle for a couple of years. I
> think
> they were bought out by Thames Brewing. (My reason for saying this is that
> Thames started putting out Welsh ale around the time Felinfoel disapppeared
> from the shelves. The packaging is also similiar.)
Russell and Tim wrote in to set me straight. Thanks!
Sorry about the mis-information. I am a little pissed that we don't get it
anymore and I've *never* had it on tap :^( As to Thames, haven't tried
it. I will now though. Seattle HBDer's, is Felinfoel still around and I'm
just missing it?
Mike
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 95 00:02 CDT
From: pgravel at mcs.com (Philip Gravel)
Subject: Plastic tubing/Heating enzymes/Tummy stout
===> Spencer Thomas warns about tubing problems:
>I recently replaced all my plastic because of a possible low-level
>infection problem. The new tubing I got from a local homebrew shop
>had a "plastic" smell to it. I didn't think about it, figuring it'd
>"wash out."
>
>Well...... Last night I had to dump 10 gallons of otherwise very nice
>"plastic" beer down the drain. I use a counterflow chiller, and the
>wort had apparently picked up the plastic flavor/smell from the
>hot-side tubing.
Clear plastic tubing (Tygon type) is made out of polyvinylchloride.
It contains dioctyl phthalate (DOP) as a plasticizer. Perhaps you
got tubing that had a high level of DOP in it. You might want to
consider using polyethylene tubing especially for the hot side. PE
tubing is that tubing that is milky white in color and is relatively
stiff. It contains no plasticizer and will retain much more of its
strength when hot.
===> Collin A Ames about exposing amylase to heat:
>I don't know if adding the enzyme to the boil would be a good idea...any
>chemists out there know what happens to enzymes in high heat?
Heat will denature enzyme and destroy the enzymatic activity. Don't
add it to you boil, you'll just be wasting your money. You can use
it with your mash or add it to the fermenter as you did.
===> Darren Tyson asks about using antacids in the boil...
>I basically followed Papazian's Toad Spit Stout recipe from TNCJOHB
>with several modifications. I used 6.6 lb light, unhopped LME; 3/4 oz
>crystal, 1/3 oz roasted barley, 1/3 oz black malt; 1 oz Northern
>Brewer 6.6% aa, 1/4 oz Cascades both for 60 min, no finishing hops.
>I didn't have any gypsum so I improvised and added four Tums E-X
>tablets to the boil, each tablet contains 750 mg CaCO3. I cooled the
>wort, transferred to carboy filled to 5 gal and pitched with about
>750 mL starter of Irish ale yeast. (O.G. 1.058)
>
>My questions are:
>
>1) Any idea how adding Tums to the boil will affect the flavor?
If I recall correctly, Tums have a minty flavor so don't be surprised
if your stout has the taste of mint. Also, gypsum is calcium sulfate.
The sulfate accentuates the hop bitterness causing it to be drier.
The carbonate in Tums will not have this effect.
>6) I think I crushed the specialty grains too much and got too much
> powder; should I try to filter it out or should I not worry about it?
I wouldn't worry if you had crushed the grains too much. But I would
worry about the amount of the speciality grains you used. Did you
really mean to say ounces of speciality grains? Toad Spit Stout uses
3/4 lb (pound) of crystal malt and 1/3 lb (pound) each of roasted barley
and black patent malt. If you used fraction of oz (ounces) of these
specialty grains as you stated, you'll have something that is closer to
a brown ale than a stout.
- --
Phil
_____________________________________________________________
Philip Gravel Lisle, Illinois pgravel at mcs.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 10:15:59 -0800
From: Dean S Sundwark <ISDSS1 at acad2.alaska.edu>
Subject: I took the list all winter and really enjoyed it. My summer schedual
will keep me from reading it so please remove my name.
CHEERS Dean Sundmark
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 16:01:14 -0400
From: ae846 at detroit.freenet.org (Charles E. Deaton)
Subject: TOO bitter!
Grettings all.
I made a barleywine 2 weeks ago found in Cats Meow III web.
Seemed to be what I wanted to brew at the time, but the wife
wasn't to excited about it. In turn I cut the ingredients
in half to make a 2.5 gallon batch. All went well in my opion.
Asof today airlock activity had slowed so I took a reading,
still a little high. As normal I can't see dumping good
beer down the sink, so I tasted it. TALK ABOUT BITTER. It
was the bitterest I have ever tasted. TOO BITTER.
I am hoping there is someway to reduce this, so I turned the
best sorce for help I know of. If there is anyway to do this
I would be much appreciative.
BTW. Here is what I used for hops:
1.5 oz Chinook 12.5% 60 min.
.25 oz Centennial 10.2% 5 min.
.25 oz Centennial 10.2% secondary.
Guest this may the wisdom gather part of my brewing hobby
since this is only my third batch.
TIA. Charles E. Deaton A.R.C. N8NNN
- --
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 11:03:13 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Carl Etnier <Carl.Etnier at abc.se>
Subject: buying beelegs
Last week I described a type of "skimmed honey" that I buy
inexpensively for beer and mead making, a honey which my beekeeper
aquaintance sells much cheaper because it is
>contaminated with bee legs, wax, and
>other things he doesn't want in the honey he sells.
Stephen Meredith then asked in private mail,
>Do you end up with bee legs in your mead?
Others could easily wonder the same thing. I ought have concluded the
post by saying that one can make wonderful mead and beer with this
honey--both are wonderfully clear and clean-tasting. It is such a joy
to look at the clear golden mead, that I usually bottle it in clear
bottles (and store it in the dark, to prevent photoreactions.) The
contaminants wind up on the bottom of the primary or secondary, I
imagine. No trace of wax or anything else that floats on the surface
of the mead, either.
Carl Etnier
Trosa, Sweden
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 15:51:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: MMMST40 at vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Mash Questions
Recently I have stared to do partial mash-extract batches. I will typically
mash like 4-5 lbs of grain and then fill in with about 3 lbs of extract.
Overall the results have been great and I am enjoying the flexibility and
challenge of mixing different grains/adjuncts. However I have been
getting alot more trub than Im used to and Im not sure about where its
comming from. At first I figured that something was messed up in my
lautering and chunks of something were getting through. I figured this
because I can see the stuff before the boil. Then during the boil, the
stuff gets stirred up and the wort becomes lighter in color. I usually
recirculate quite alot of the runnoff though (and Im pretty damn proud of
my home made lauter-tun rig), so Im not sure that the trub is comming
from lautering mistakes. I usually do a protien rest at 122 for 30 min
and one at 130-140 for another 10 min. I have been trying all kinds of
elorabate hopbacks hoping that this would strain it out, but this does not
seem to be helping much. Then the trub settles in the fermenter, and
then it floats to the top right before the yeast really takes off , then it
swirls around in big chunks for the crazy, active fermentation, and then
these trub jibblets settle out into cottage cheese like layer. Once this
happens I rack off into a secondary and the beer ends up great, but I feel
that I am loosing a good six-pac worth of the beer due to the excess trub.
So my questions are- Is this normal? Do protien rests increase or
decrease the amount of protien trub? and Will elaborate hopbacks and
sparging tequniques remove some of the trub?
Thanks alot for any input, Mike (mmmst40 at vms.cis.pitt.edu)
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 11:32:00
From: David.Divalerio at f165.n260.z1.fidonet.org (David Divalerio)
Subject: Kegging commercial beer question
I have recently begun kegging with a cornelius keg system. I want to
try to dispense commercial beer. Does anyone know if there would be a
problem with buying a keg of commercial beer and draining it into 3
cory kegs. I could then use the corny kegs in my fridge system.
Would the beer lose its carbonation by being transfered from one keg to
another. Could there be a poroblem with contamination? Has anyone tried
this? Any insight would be appreciated.
David DiValerio Orchard Park, NY]
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 95 9:31:33 PDT
From: Michael Lloyd <mlloyd at cuix2.pscu.com>
To: homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
Subject: (fwd) Fruit puree
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Path: cuix.pscu.com!cuix.pscu.com!not-for-mail
From: mlloyd at cuix.pscu.com (Michael Lloyd)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: Fruit puree
Date: 16 Apr 1995 09:29:55 -0700
Organization: Computer Users Information Exchange
Lines: 12
Message-ID: <3mrgm3$d00 at cuix2.pscu.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cuix2.pscu.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Has anyone ever thought of using pureed canned fruit in fruit beers? It
occurred to me that juice pack canned fruit is already pasteurized by the
canning process. Can one simply puree a few cans and add the puree to
the secondary?
This strikes me as a compromise between the flavor and method complexity
of using fresh whole fruit versus using fruit extracts.
I would be interested to hear of any comments or ideas in this regard.
Michael G. Lloyd
mlloyd at cuix.pscu.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 95 9:32:11 PDT
From: Michael Lloyd <mlloyd at cuix2.pscu.com>
To: homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
Subject: (fwd) Carapils malt and malto-dextrin
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Path: cuix.pscu.com!cuix.pscu.com!not-for-mail
From: mlloyd at cuix.pscu.com (Michael Lloyd)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: Carapils malt and malto-dextrin
Date: 16 Apr 1995 09:26:58 -0700
Organization: Computer Users Information Exchange
Lines: 10
Message-ID: <3mrggi$cv5 at cuix2.pscu.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cuix2.pscu.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Does anyone have a conversion factor for carapils malt and
malto-dextrin? For example, if I wish to replace four ounces of
malto-dextrin with an equivalent amount of carapils malt, how much malt
would I use?
Please post your responses to the newsgroup. Thanks.
Michael G. Lloyd
mlloyd at cuix.pscu.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 95 12:22:40 PDT
From: hollen at megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: RIMS cleaning
Just a survey on how RIMS users clean their heater chamber. I took
mine apart this weekend and now I wish I hadn't. There was brown fur
on my heater element. A judicious brushing of heater and chamber
followed by hot water rinse, followed by CTSP recirculation and then
final hot water rinse seems to have done the trick, but I would hate
to have to disassemble it all every brewing session. Anybody got any
better ways of cleaning in place?
dion
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 17:13:04 -0400
From: DABLUES at aol.com
Subject: Keg-bung preparation
Hi all,
In all 23 of my homebrew attempts I have been lucky enough not to have had a
single bad batch by nasty critters or underfermentation, or any of the other
horror stories floating around the net. I am having fun and having lot's of
homebrew as a result. My wife and I own a hair salon so I keep homebrew on
tap for my customers. It has gone over quite well.
This brings me to the reason for my post.. A couple of months ago a customer
came to me with a 1/4 barrell Golden Gate keg as a gift. Needless to say I
was pleased as punch. After several weeks of hardcore research I even
managed to find the connections for gas and beer lines. I love nothing more
than a good challenge-especially when it involves a little detective work.
The final step in all of this quest came about a couple of weeks ago when
SABCO came through on the bungs for me. I now have a box of 100 of these
things in my brewing room. I am building out of 1/2 barrels an all-grain
system so I can make big enough batches of brew to go into a quarter-barrell.
So here it is.
I have no real instructions on the preparation, sanitation, and use of wooden
bungs. Sure, logic dictates that putting it in water will swell it up to fit
the hole in the side of the keg. I just am not sure about keeping the little
nasties out of my beer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for listening,
Quint Floyd
College Station, TX
"I'll have my usual, Woody... A trough of beer and a straw."
Norm Peterson
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 17:16:03 -0600 (MDT)
From: Bob Sinnema <rjsinnem at acs.ucalgary.ca>
Subject: ftp.stanford?
Hi all! I've been lurking and learning for a couple of months; my
brewing has improved significantly, thanks to the digest. Today, I ran
into a non-brewing problem when I tried to access the archives at Stanford
- -- the "homebrew" directory apparently no longer exists. Where did it go? Is
there a new ftp or is something temporarily haywire at Stanford?
******************************************************************************
Bob Sinnema | Detendez-vous, ne vous inquietez pas,
rjsinnem at acs.ucalgary.ca | Buvez une biere de menage!
wwtl80a at prodigy.com | Beat Navy! . . .again! . . .and again!
| (This could be habit forming!)
******************************************************************************
Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 21:41:11 -0400
From: jhewit at freenet.vcu.edu (Jeff Hewit)
Subject: Drinking Age in England
My family and I will be visiting London this summer. My two
teen-aged sons, who have heard that there is no minimum drinking
age in England, are viewing this, in the words of my fifteen
year old, as an opportunity to "get wasted." I have pointed
out that we really don't know if they will be able to drink,
legally that is. (I have also pointed out the problems of being
drunk and hungover on vacation, but I'm not sure if I'm getting
through.) Anyway, does anyone know if there is a minimum age
to buy and/or consume alcohol in England? Having this
information ahead of time will help me plan on how I will need
to deal with the two maniacs I call my sons. Thanks.
- --
Jeff Hewit
******************************************************************************
Eat a live toad first thing in the morning and nothing worse
will happen to you the rest of the day.
Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1708, 04/18/95